The Mysterious Masked Astro-Hero
The Mysterious Masked Astro-Hero * Season #: 7 * Season Ep#: 16 * Overall Ep#: 122 Synopsis Vanilla Cake's amazing flying abilities make him a hero around Jupiter Town, but he finds that he is being upstaged by a masked hero. Story (Opening shot: fade in to the exterior of Red U/Pink P/Blue A's clubhouse. It is daytime, and the outlines of a milling crowd can be seen through the windows and open door. Zoom in slowly to the sound of their hubbub.) * [Red Unicorn] (from inside) "Attention, everyone!" (banging gavel) "ATTENTION!" (Silence. Dissolve to a slow pan across the interior. Various pictures of Vanilla Cake have been taped up on the walls, and plenty of paraphernalia is in evidence among the spectators: wigs, flags, caps, headbands, and so forth.) * [Red Unicorn] (from o.s.) "The Official /Vanilla Cake Fan Club will come to order." (On the end of this, the camera stops on the red guy, wearing a wig of her own and addressing the group from a lectern. He will keep the accessory on until further notice.) * [Red Unicorn] "Let’s get right down to our first order of business." (Cut to just behind him; Blue Alicorn and Pink Pegasus are present.) "I motion that Vanilla Cake be declared the most awesome guy in Jupiter Town." * [Pink Pegasus] "I second the motion! And might I add that if you looked up the word 'awesome' in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Vanilla Cake!" (Cheers/laughs/stomps from others.) * [Blue Alicorn] "I object!" (Surprised gasps; he walks to Red.) "I think the word 'awesome' is played out. Vanilla Cake deserves better. I motion that we declare him the most stupendous guy!" * [Red Unicorn] "Stupendous? Is that the best you got? I motion that we declare him...wonderrific!" * [Blue Alicorn] "Astonishing!" * [Red Unicorn] "Breathtaking!" * [Blue Alicorn] "Astounding!" * [Red Unicorn] "Bedazzling!" * [Vanilla Cake] (from o.s., slightly muffled) "What about super-ultra-extreme-awesomazing?" (Both smile at this suggestion, and the rest of the meeting shares their reaction.) * [Red Unicorn] "All in favor of declaring Vanilla Cake the most super-ultra-extra…oh, whatever you said…guy in all of Jupiter Town, say yes!" * [Crowd] "AYE!!" (Flags are waved and cheers raised as the camera zooms out through an open window. Vanilla is out on the platform and staying clear of the crowd’s line of vision; his voice came in through the wall. He snickers to himself as the view fades to black.) ---------- (Opening shot: fade in to a thick bank of fluffy white clouds, from which Vanilla Cake bursts out to plunge into another stretch. Popping his head up, he blows out a mouthful of white vapor and starts to swim around with a contented sigh.) * [Vanilla Cake] "What a beautiful day!" (doing the backstroke) "There’s nothing like a dip in the clouds to make a CandyCake feel super-relaxed." * [Young Alien 1] (from o.s. below, reverberating) "HEEELLLP! HEEELLLP!" (Vanilla snaps to, his attention fixing on a well; zoom in on this. The boards covering it have been partially broken away, showing the speaker’s predicament.) * [Young Alien 1] (from inside) "HEEELLLP! HEEELLLP!" * [Vanilla Cake] (from o.s. during previous) "Hmmm." (Back to him; he stands up.) "Looks like my sky swim will have to wait!" (A screaming dive takes him straight down the well and shatters the board remnants. Cut to him as he plunges deeper, his voice now reverberating as the youngster's did.) * [Vanilla Cake] "I'm Vanilla Cake, and I'm here to rescue you!" (Up on the surface, the other CandyCakes have gathered at the well, along with a couple of other spectators. Up comes Vanilla as if shot from a cannon, carrying a dirt-streaked baby alien on his back; he swoops high and touches down as the growing crowd cheers the rescue. Once the youngster is back on solid ground, Vanilla stands wonderingly as they gather closer.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Wow. Uh...thanks, everyone. It was really no big deal." * [Young Alien 1] "To me it was. You’re my hero, Vanilla Cake!" (Zoom out from him to frame the nearest knot of spectators, which includes Caramel Cider; they give Vanilla another round of applause as he smiles uneasily. After a few seconds, the smile becomes genuine, and he files away; down below, Red U. addresses Blue A. and Pink P. .) * [Red Unicorn] "That kid sure is something." (Zoom in on the trio.) * [Blue Alicorn & Pink Pegasus] "Something special!" (Dissolve to the sun in a tranquil sky. The quiet mood goes bye-bye when a mare pops up with a blood-curdling scream, and a baby carriage rockets over the top of a steep ridge and barrels along a footpath that snakes down an uncomfortably high cliff. The carriage’s occupant is heard bawling in terror, surprising a few Jupiter Town citizens and bringing Vanilla out of the cloud in which he has been resting. Down the path he flies, the camera panning quickly ahead to show the cliff edge waiting at its end, then cut back to him. A kick of speed puts him close enough to clamp his hands around the carriage’s push-bar; he then digs in his feet, slowing the rig so that it stops with inches to spare before the cliff. He backs it up a bit, and the crowd below—which now includes Scarecrow and Grim Reaper in addition to the other members of the sub-core group—breaks into cheers. Zoom out overhead to frame them in a very long shot and put Vanilla and the carriage in the fore; he gives them a big smile and takes a bow. After a few seconds of basking, though, he gasps in shock and looks into the carriage.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Oh, no! There’s something wrong with the baby!" (Collective gasp. As he continues, he smiles and lifts the diaper-clad newborn into full view.) * [Vanilla Cake] "She’s not cheering for everypony’s favorite hero, Vanilla Cake!" (More cheers as he carries the filly back to mother, the mare whose scream alerted him. Cameras click and flashes pop from o.s. during the meeting, cut to three photographers as they snap away from just below the top of the ridge. The baby is tossed back to mother, who catches the diaper in her teeth and walks off with a slightly dirty look as Vanilla poses for the cameras. Here come the others, bewilderment settling in on their faces; Red. U gets in closer, admiration written all over his.) * [Red Unicorn] "There just aren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe Vanilla Cake's awesomeness!" (During this line, the camera cuts to Vanilla, who strikes a few poses, then to Grim Reaper as Lollipop leans over to him.) * [Lollipop Pops] (aside) "I can think of a few new words." * [Grim Reaper] "And I bet 'modest' is not one of them." (On the end of this, cut to the heroic pegasus-humanoid, who rises clear of the crowd and blows a few kisses before zipping up a bit higher. Cheers rise after him as he traces out.) * [Lollipop Pops] (smiling) "No, but he is kinda awesome." (Wipe to a slow zoom in on a balcony on which three elderly --- one includes Mistletoe --- have gathered, all conversing. Close-up of Mistletoe as he emerges onto the balcony; a cracking noise from o.s. below stops him short.) * [Mistletoe] "Huh?" (A longer shot reveals that the entire platform is splitting across its width just behind him; confused mumblings turn into cries of panic as the whole thing shakes and worried onlookers gather below. The timbers give way partially, leaving the four listing at a precarious angle.) * [Vanilla Cake] (from o.s.) "Never fear…" (Tilt quickly up to him.) "…your friendly neighborhood Vanilla Cake is here!" (Here he comes; the beams break apart completely; the balcony plunges away but is suddenly slowed down to land gently in the street. Jubilation from the spectators as the camera cuts to Vanilla in their midst and swivels around him.) * [Female voices] "We’d be lost without you!…You’re our hero, Vanilla Cake!" (He lifts off while the group breaks into chanting his name, then cups a hoof to his nonexistent ear.) * [Vanilla Cake] "I can’t hear you!" (Which prompts them to add a decibel or twelve; meanwhile, he does a few celebratory moves in midair, enjoying every second of the adulation. Cut back to ground level and zoom out to frame Lollipop, now with Blueberry by her side, at a distance.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Call me silly, but I think this whole hero thing might be going to Vanilla Cake's head." (Head-on view on the end of this; the other CandyCakes are here as well, and a pan frames to Cotton.) * [Cotton Puffy] "You may be right…silly." (The violet-haired girl grimaces at her goofy brother's ability to miss the glaringly obvious. Dissolve to a close-up of these two plus the others, all slightly bemused, on the shop floor of the town restaurant. On the start of the next line, zoom out to put them at the back of a large gathering of enthusiastic fans. Vanilla struts into view, his favorite black sunglasses propped on his forehead, and Beeping Bot—dressed in a trenchcoat, fedora, shirt, and tie, with a press card sticking out of its band—takes notes.) * [Vanilla Cake] "And then, I zoomed into the well. I knew it would be dark and dangerous, but I didn’t let that stop me. Danger’s my middle name! Vanilla Danger Cake!" (He lowers the shades; cut to Beeping Bot with pencil flying across his notebook pages.) * [Vanilla Cake] (from o.s.) "Thinking back on it, I acted pretty awesomely heroic that day." * [Beeping Bot] (writing) " '...that...day.' " * [Blueberry Jam] (disgustedly, to Lollipop/Cotton) "Awesomely heroic that day and awesomely arrogant ever since." * [Lollipop Pops, Cotton Puffy] "Mmm-hmm." (Cotton is eating a cupcake but has no time to offer a bite before Vanilla lays an arm across his black-haired green-eyed brother. Vanilla has taken off his sunglasses.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Hey, Blueberry. How would you like to be immortalized as my pal?" (Blueberry looks shocked.) * [Blueberry Jam] "Immorta-what?" (Too late. One of the photogs from the baby rescue has crashed the party and begins taking shots of the pair. As Beeping continues his note-taking, a skeptical Snicker leans don to him.) * [Snicker Doodle] "Are you taking notes?" * [Beeping Bot] "Yep. I’ve been picked by Vanilla Cake himself, to write his autobiography!" (Across the floor, Blueberry decides he has had enough of this and walks off; Vanilla keeps posing for the camera as Red U. watches.) * [Lollipop Pops] (from o.s.) "Um, autobiographies are supposed to be written by the person they are about!" * [Vanilla Cake] "Maybe for you" (Cut to Lollipop and Blueberry; he continues o.s.) "But I’m far too busy saving lives to stop and write." (walking to Beeping, patting his head) "That’s why I hired Beeping Bot as my ghostwriter." (This last word spooks Choco away from the cake he has been chomping and brings a shriek.) * [Choco Cream] "Beeping's a ghost!" (He bails out. Brief silence.) * [Vanilla Cake] (pacing floor) "Anyway, Beeping here writes down everything I say—don’t you, Beeping?" * [Beeping Bot] (writing) " 'Don't...you...Beeping?' Got it!" * [Vanilla Cake] "This way, I can stay focused on performing those acts of bravery that nobody else has the guts to perform." (Cut to a shot of him as seen through a camera’s viewfinder.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Yeah, it takes guts." (An alien toddler runs up and hugs him.) "But it also takes brains." (A quick series of pictures is taken during the next line, with a different toddler zipping up to pose with him in each.) * [Vanilla Cake] "And sometimes a big lunch and a nap." (Slow pan across his unimpressed siblings; he continues o.s.) "Being a hero is surely not for everybody, but I’m up to the challenge." (Lollipop and Snicker cut their eyes toward each other for a brief instant, as if either getting the same idea or wordlessly asking each other to throw something at the brown-haired boy with the swelled head. Dissolve to a slow pan along a Jupiter Town street where a line of admirers has gathered. At its head, an alien toddler with a sheet in her teeth walks up to Vanilla, who has a pencil in hers. A camera shift shows the document to be a black-and-white photo of Vanilla, who scribbles across it as an autograph before backing out of view.) * [Vanilla Cake] (from o.s.) "There you go!" (The toddler tucks it in her backpack.) * [Young Alien 2] "Someday I want to be just like you." * [Vanilla Cake] "Aim high, kid, but don’t aim for the impossible." (Which makes sense in at least one respect, as the youngster is wingless. A distant scream surprises the entire group and causes the fans to gasp; cut to a punctured hot-air balloon coming down fast. The lone character in its, basket, Ruby, wears an old-style leather aviator’s helmet and goggles.) * [Ruby] "HEEELLLP! HEEELLLP!" * [Blue Alicorn] (to Vanilla; he keeps signing) "Uh, don’t you think you should go and help?" * [Vanilla Cake] "Yeah, yeah. I’ve got a good ten seconds to spare. Just a couple more." (Once he has finished scribbling on the latest photo, he takes off with great speed. In the air, however, he coasts upward on his back, not with any particular sense of urgency. Only after covering a few hundred yards does she flip over to approach the terrified Ruby.) * [Beeping Bot] (from o.s. below) " 'The tension is unbearable!' " (Cut to him, writing at top speed.) " 'Will Vanilla Cake make it on time?' " (The passage of a shadow cast by something overhead stops his No. 2 cold on the page. Its source lands on a rooftop: a humanoid clad in a purple outfit that covers every square inch of skin, including eyes and hair. A long, darker purple cape billows behind the newcomer; it is the same shade as the hood that covers the head and the ribbon of the broad-brimmed fedora atop this. Wrappings over each hoof have this color as well. The hat itself and the collar of the cape are a match for the bodysuit. Nothing can be seen of the eyes except for two lavender panels that match the hue of the large A on the brooch securing the cape. When the figure stands upright, enough of the general facial contour becomes discernible to mark it as having the same body proportions as the CandyCakes.) (It leaps from one rooftop to the next, as sure-footed as a mountain goat, and dives across open space to pull the plummeting Ruby out of the balloon. When Vanilla charges in, he gets nothing but a faceful of canvas and drops out of sight. A thud and a scatter of leaves mark his ungraceful touchdown; cut to the remains of the balloon, now tangled in and around a tree. Vanilla lifts one deflated fold and sees the unknown character shake hands with Ruby in front of a cheering crowd before sprinting away.) * [Female voice 1] "Holy cow! That figure came outta nowhere!" (Quick pan to Parm.) * [Parm] "I’ve never seen such bravery in all my life!" (The mayor speaks up.) * [Mayor Jupiter] "That’s right. Jupiter Town has a new hero." (Long shot of the caped figure, seen in silhouette atop a mountain and backed by the sun. Zoom out to frame the mayor on the next line as the dude runs down the far side.) * [Mayor Jupiter] "A mysterious hero that has done well by our fair city today. I dub this new masked hero…'The Mysterious Astro-Hero'!" (Cheers.) * [Vanilla Cake] (to himself, disgustedly) "Astro-Hero, huh? Well, that hero is better off staying out of my way! Jupiter Town's only got room for one likeable here, and that hero is me!" (He tries to take a step forward, but ends up on his due to a rigging line snagged around one leg. Instead, he props his head on that leg and sits there sulking before the view snaps to black.) -------- (Opening shot: fade into a side view close-up of a carriage styled to resemble a typical city bus, filled with screaming tourist ponies and hurtling down a slope at high speed. A pan ahead to the front end reveals two snapped-off shafts and a total lack of any pulling team. The vehicle drops over the top of the ridge, its passengers yelling at the top of their lungs, as Vanilla flashes in to pull even with the rear end.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Never fear. Your friendly neighborhood Vanilla—" * [Tourist #1] "Excuse me! Uh, do you think you could skip your catchphrase and just hurry up and save us?" (On these last five words, cut to a close-up of the brown-haired speedster, who rolls his eyes and groans at having his intro ruined so in such a thoughtless manner.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Fine." (somersaulting to the front end) "Picky, picky." (Seizing the broken shafts, he digs in his feet...) * [Vanilla Cake] "Woah!" (…but finds that he cannot get enough traction to stop the carriage on the steep downgrade. He trails off into a panicked yell as it breaks loose again and tosses him aside, and he can do no more than stare while the rig barrels toward the cliff at the end of this road. However, Astro-Hero leaps into view, plants itself to face over the edge, and lifts its legs so that it is standing on its hands. The front end of the carriage makes contact, plowing the figure ahead; it digs in against the ground, keeping its legs tensed, and gradually brings everything to a stop. Its hands end up so close to the edge that a few clods of dirt kicked up by them clatter over it. Cheers from the passengers, one of whom jumps out to kiss the ground.) * [Tourist #2] "Oh, thank you, Astro..." (He trails off in surprise as the camera cuts to a longer shot of him—and of Astro-Hero, who is already bounding away across the mountaintops. Vanilla, now upright, watches from the spot where he wiped out quite a way back.) * [Vanilla Cake] "I can’t believe it! Astro-Hero is stronger than me?" (angrily) "Well, a hero is more than just muscle—" (walking away) "—and Astro-Hero's gonna learn that the hard way." (Wipe to the upper stories of a new building’s wood framework under construction. Heavy equipment is heard being used as the camera tilts down to ground level, where the crew is hard at work and a crane snags a beam to hoist it. The operator tries to move one of the levers but finds it jammed; when he tries to force it, he is rewarded with sparks and smoke from the overloaded mechanism. The breakdown prompts him into a surprised grunt; out of control, the arm swings wildly in a circle as Vanilla flies overhead.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Huh?" (He zooms in as the ropes holding the beam to the crane’s hook begin to snap.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Never fear! Your friendly neighbor—" (The beam comes flying at him; he dodges.) "—whoa!" (It smashes into the lowest section of the framework, shaking other pieces loose, and a mare on the crew gallops for dear life as Vanilla keeps pace in midair. His next line is broken up by frequents stops and dodges.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Never fear...I’m coming…hold on!" * [Worker #1] (pointing upward) "LOOK!!" (Tilt quickly upward to frame the crane’s full height, with Astro-Hero standing on its pulley, then zoom in on him/her. He/She jumps down.) * [Crane alien] (smiling, pumping a hand) "Hey!" (The masked rescuer nimbly dodges falling junk, balances on a trio of rolling barrels, and jumps clear to run a slalom across the site. One upstaged CandyCake glares daggers at him/her from above, but another worker is very grateful to be lifted onto the purple back and carried to safety as Vanilla's jaw drops. The latter’s rancor turns to shock when he notices a pallet loaded with bricks toppling off the highest level of the framework. He dives in toward a stallion who has found himself in the load’s growing shadow and plows him away, an instant before it crashes to the ground. As he uncovers his eyes in close-up with a strangled cry, the camera zooms out to frame him in the grip of Vanilla's; he is soaring through the hail of debris for all he is worth. The next line is punctuated by plenty of dodges and yells from both.) * [Worker #2] "Look out for the…Watch out for falling…On your left!...Your other left!" (They reach the edge of the sight.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Here you go." (He jumps off.) "Safe and sound." (The framework is another story, though, as it proceeds to come down with a deafening roar, a great belch of dust, and a camera-shaking tremor. The guy Vanilla just rescued moans weakly and goes over in a dead faint. Cut to Astro-Hero and several other crew members on a safe patch of grass, and zoom out to frame Vanilla addressing them from the trashed construction site.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Well, Astro-Hero—or should I call you Astro-Slow? You’re gonna have to pick up the pace if you want to compete with me, ’cause I move like lightning!" * [Worker #3] "Actually, Astro-Hero saved all of us. We owe Astro-Hero our lives." (The cocky pale face goes slack with shock as the dark brown eyes constrict to points, and he drops to the ground alongside the one he saved on his own. Astro-Hero leads the rest of the cheering crew in a stampede away from the area, and this guy walks after them to leave a poleaxed Vanilla on the dirt. In due time, the face rearranges itself into a furious growl.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Okay. He/She's strong, fast, and somehow knows what’s gonna happen ahead of time." (standing up, flying off) "I gotta step up my game." (Wipe to a long shot of Jupiter Town proper and pan/tilt up to a high, broad waterfall on a nearby cliff. The river is held back by a large dam, but a close-up of one section points up a fresh crack with water dripping through it. Vanilla cruises past and doubles back with a gasp, having noticed the fracture.) * [Vanilla Cake] "If the dam breaks, the whole town’ll be flooded! Looks like Jupiter Town needs a hero!" (The crack continues to drip; a pale hand is plunked over it, the camera zooming out to frame its beaming owner.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Easy-peasy. My game is officially back on. If only someone were here to pat me on the back." (During this line, the break grows a bit without him noticing. He then removes his hand from it to give himself the pat.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Heh. Guess I’ll have to do it myself." (The dam chooses this moment to give out, releasing a torrent that washes him away and turns whatever he was going to say into a series of waterlogged yelps and cries. He ends up floating down the waterway toward the falls and screaming at top volume.) * [Vanilla Cake] "HEEELLLP!!" (The sheer mass of water submerges him for a moment; he surfaces with a fish in his mouth and spits it out.) * [Vanilla Cake] "HEEELLLP!!" (But he can do nothing to stop his forward motion or get out of the current—that is, until he fetches up on a log extending into view from somewhere o.s. His mouth opens in wordless disbelief, and a longer shot reveals why: the log has been placed by Astro-Hero, who stands on the bank.) * [Vanilla Cake] "You?!?" (Cut to Astro-Hero; he continues o.s.) "Huh. I suppose you want me to thank—" (A toss of the purple head sends the fedora gliding away. Underneath it is a unicorn’s glowing horn, covered by the material of the hood. Vanilla gapes as the shattered pieces of the dam are levitated back toward it and fitted neatly into place.) * [Vanilla Cake] (climbing onto log) "You gotta be kidding me!" (Two last fragments are slotted home, leaving the dam good as new, and the camera cuts to a long shot and tilts down to frame Astro-Hero now on a high perch. He/She floats his/her hat back onto his/her head as several ponies cheer him/her from the riverbank, then gives an acknowledging wave and darts away. The soaked brown-haired boy, meanwhile, has made it back to the bank and is shaking himself dry.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Let me get this straight. Astro-Hero's strong, agile, and can do magic?" (Letting go with a loud, frustrated groan, he flops backward onto the grass.) * [Vanilla Cake] "How do I compete with that?" (An idea begins to form under the brown mane; he stands up.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Wait a minute." (smiling) "I do have a leg up on him. And that leg is…" (He takes off, leaving a white contrail.) "...wings!" (He darts here and there for a second, then hits the gas straight ahead.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Hah! Take that, Astro-Hero!" (Instead, he is the one who has to take it, in the form of a purple blur that flashes past to stop him cold and leave him spinning. When he glares after the interloper, the camera cuts to a close-up that reveals a pair of wings on the costumed flanks—previously covered by the folds of the cape. Astro-Hero soars over the whooping crowd by the dam and is gone before Vanilla can make it back to the site.) * [Vanilla Cake] (disgustedly) "Oh, for the love of Pete." (Dissolve to the exterior of the town restaurant and zoom in slowly.) * [Caramel Cider] (from inside) "Gotta hand it to the guy." (Inside on the shop floor, she adds a candy cane to a plate of treats on her plate. Sugar Pie can be seen sitting at a table near the stairs, while Vanilla lounges grumpily on the landing.) * [Blueberry Jam] (walking across room) "Yeah. Astro-Hero sure can pull off some pretty heroic feats." (The camera pans slightly to follow him, framing Lollipop Pops at the table as well.) * [Lollipop Pops] "I must say—" (Close-up of Vanilla; she continues o.s.) "—I was impressed by that spell he used to fix the dam." (Back to her.) "Seems like something like that would take quite a bit of study." (The vexed boy groans through his teeth and flops down on the stairs.) * [Lemon Drop] "He really cares about everypony’s safety." (Gelatin Soft crosses to them, carrying a teacup.) * [Gelatin Soft] "Have you seen his costume? It is to die for! If you ask me, he's a hero of fashion." (Zoom out slightly to frame Caramel.) * [Caramel Cider] "And he's modest and humble." (Back to Vanilla; he continues o.s.) "He lets his actions speak for themselves. You got to admire that." (That tears it.) * [Vanilla Cake] "I don’t have to admire that! I don’t think he’s all that great!" (Cut to Beeping, across the room, on the end of this.) * [Beeping Bot] (writing) " 'He's great.' " (He zips over.) * [Vanilla Cake] "I didn’t say that!" * [Snicker Doodle] (from o.s.) "Sounds like someone's jealous." * [Vanilla Cake] "Who, me?" * [Beeping Bot] (writing) " 'Vanilla Cake is jealous.' " * [Vanilla Cake] "Don't write that, Beeping!" (Laughter from the eleven o.s. CandyCakes hits his blindside as the camera zooms out to frame them.) * [Beeping Bot] (writing) " 'Correction: Vanilla Cake is very jealous.' " * [Vanilla Cake] "Fine!" (He hovers over the group.) "Laugh all you want! But I’ll be the one laughing when I prove to you all that I’m just as good—no, that I’m a better hero than Astro-Hero!" (He flies out the door, leaving Cinnamon to shrug noncommittally and the others to to glance worriedly after him. Cut to him in flight, then to a rooftop overlooking a busy street as he lights here for a moment. Disappointed sigh.) * [Vanilla Cake] "No sign of trouble here." (zipping away) "Darn it." (Cut to the same steep road on which disaster has been staved off twice this episode. Nothing going down here as he flies in.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Buses and baby carriages are always careening down this hill. Where is an out-of-control vehicle when you need one?" (Off he goes with a groan, making his way above Jupiter Town proper again.) * [Vanilla Cake] "There are absolutely no freak natural disasters going on anywhere! How am I supposed to prove myself when everything’s so normal and safe?" (He catches sight of Mistletoe's slow turn around a street corner; zoom in briefly on the senior-citizen duck and the mailbag beside him, putting Vanilla out of view. A gasp from the o.s. boy, then cut to ground level as he lands in front of Mistletoe and his creaky joints.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Hold it right there, Mistletoe! You don’t have to pretend with me." (zipping behind him) "I can see that you’re in way over your head here." * [Mistletoe] (mumbling, deploying an ear trumpet) "What's that?" * [Vanilla Cake] "You’re putting on a brave face. I get it. But you don’t have to anymore. I’ll help you cross the street!" (He gets his hands on Mistletoe's back and starts bulldozing, prompting the latter to grunt angrily and dig in his webbed feet.) * [Mistletoe] "Actually, I can cross the street just fine!" * [Vanilla Cake] (with effort) "Don’t worry. You’re in extremely capable hands!" (On the last two words, cut to a close-up of the resisting feet and the dirt being plowed up by them. Mistletoe takes it up a notch by plunking his haunches down on the roadbed, so Vanilla resorts to pushing with arms and gets him moving.) * [Mistletoe] "Back off, you silly…" (This plea comes in the middle of a string of panicked yelps and cries, after which Vanilla gets him to the other side of the street.) * [Vanilla Cake] (panting) "Here we are, safe and sound." (standing up; close-up) "A good and heroic citizen deserves a little recognition—" (raising voice) "—don’t you think?" (His smug little smile is met with a swing of Mistletoe's fist that connects solidly with his jaw.) * [Mistletoe] "I didn’t want to cross the street in the first place!" (And with that, he hobbles creakily back the way he came, grumbling on every step. Vanilla is left deflated, but the sound of distant grunting brings him back to the job at hand with a gasp.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Somebody's in trouble!" (He looks off to one side. Cut to a pair of stallions, Sir Big Rings and Sunflower, in the park for a picnic. The former is trying to open an obstinate jar of peanut butter. As he stops to rest, the camera cuts to a close-up of the jar and zooms out to frame Vanilla on the scene.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Better let me handle this, guys. For your own safety, I must ask you to stand back!" * [Sir Big Rings] (wearily) "Oh, brother." (Snapping his head from side to side to loosen up his nexk, he stares the jar down and grabs it. Teeth come into play against the jammed lid, but several seconds of effort only get him a disgusted look from Sir Big Rings and a confused one from Sunflower. The jar is pulled out of his mouth, tapped against the edge of a nearby fountain, and presented to him again. Now the sheepishly grinning boy is able to pop the lid off effortlessly.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Ta-da!" (Sir Big Rings takes it back to himself.) * [Sir Big Rings] (spreading on bread) "Uh…thanks." * [Vanilla Cake] "How would you describe what I just did? Would you say I was amazing?" * [Sunflower] "Aren’t you milking this a bit?" * [Vanilla Cake] "Please, just answer the question. Was I or was I not amazing?" * [Sunflower] "No, you’re amazing, all right." * [Sir Big Rings] "An amazingly—" * [Vanilla Cake] (pointing excitedly) "Oh, look!" (He flies to an idle push-style or “cylinder” lawnmower and goes to it with great fervor, mowing crazily in all directions until the entire area has been neatly trimmed.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Another great feat of heroism!" (Sweetheart walks up.) "I have just saved that grass!" * [Sweetheart] "From what?" (He crouches to eye it closely.) * [Vanilla Cake] "From weeds! Weeds that were attempting to eat this lawn!" (Overhead view; several other unimpressed ponies/aliens have gathered around him.) * [Young Alien 3] "Lame." (The group disperses with a collective grumble as the camera zooms in on Vanilla, who hunches despondently until his face is almost in the dirt.) * [Vanilla Cake] (sighing) "Who am I kidding?" (Fade to black.) ---------- (Opening shot: fade in to a close-up of Vanilla lying on a rumbling thunderhead whose gloomy appearance perfectly matches his spirits. He angrily flops onto his back.) * [Vanilla Cake] "All anybody talks about is 'Astro-Hero, this' and 'Astro-Hero, that'." (He sits up.) "What about me?" (Cut to an overhead view of three alien children who have donned Astro-Hero costume parts, and zoom out on the start of the next line to frame Vanilla staring down at them while lying on the cloud.) * [Vanilla Cake] "How could everybody forget about me so easily?" (He sits up again.) "I mean, have I changed? Same white color...same messy hair...same spectacular fists..." (The camera cuts/pans to each body part as he names it and shows it off, then shifts to frame all of him as he jumps happily into midair.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Nope, I’m still awesome." (pointing toward ground) "They're wrong!" (The newfound confidence quickly evaporates, leaving him slumped over.) * [Vanilla Cake] "But..." (Long shot of him, above th cloud, and the empty ground.) "...then why am I all alone?" (Close-up; he sinks back onto the cloud.) * [Vanilla Cake] "I hate being all alone." (He pouts for a moment before a familiar voice shakes him out of the deep blue funk.) * [Red Unicorn] (from o.s.) "Hey, Vanilla Cake!" (He sits up.) * [Vanilla Cake] "I knew it!" (In less time than it takes to say “malignant narcissism,” he is down at ground level and hovering in front of Red, who has finally removed his wig.) * [Vanilla Cake] "No need to apologize, dude. Anyone can make a mistake." * [Red Unicorn] "Mistake? What mistake?" * [Vanilla Cake] "Wait a minute. Why are you here?" * [Red Unicorn] "To invite you to join us! We’re heading off to the thank-you parade for Jupiter Town's greatest hero, Astro-Hero!" (Big grin.) * [Vanilla Cake] "No! No way! Can’t you see I—I want to be alone?" (flying away) "I love being alone!" (He stops with his back turned several yards above the path, where two citizens in Astro-Hero garb are watching with Red.) * [Red Unicorn] "Hm. Oh, okay. See you later, then." (They start away; zoom in on Vanilla.) * [Vanilla Cake] (to himself) "Yeah, right. Like I’m gonna thank him." (sarcastically) "Oh, thank you, Astro-hero, whoever you are, for ruining ev—" (Dead stop due to a brainstorm; he then calls after the distant Red.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Hey, Red!" (flying towards him) "Wait up!" (Wipe to a stage that has been set up in the park, liberally festooned with balloons, purple flags, and banners showing Astro-Hero's symbol and likeness. Mayor Jupiter, standing at a lectern, taps a hoof against it to bring the crowd to order.) * [Mayor Jupiter] "Welcome to Jupiter Town's first, but surely not last, thank-you parade in honor of our city’s greatest hero, the Mysterious Astro-Hero!" (In time with the name, the disguised savior bursts through the banner that serves as the stage’s backdrop, prompting cheers from the sign- and banner-waving spectators. Vanilla stands among them, disgust spray-painted all over his face, and soon flies up to get in the purple-covered one.) * [Vanilla Cake] "The Mysterious Astro-Hero, huh?" (A round of gasps.) "So what are you hiding?" (Close-up of the masked face; he continues o.s.) "Let’s see how mysterious you are without that mask!" (He prepares to land a punch, intending to tear it off, but Astro-Hero backs out of reach, leaps off the stage, and breaks into a dash as Vanilla chases from the air. The pursuit moves into the back alleys of Jupiter Town, with Astro-Hero racing ahead and Vanilla taking a side path to cut her off. No good; the caped humanoid slips by in a parallel track before his rival corrects course. To be exact, he overcorrects and flies past the street on which Astro-Hero has broken into the open, but reverses to pick up the trail. Two sharp turns take the incognito pony out of view—but as Vanilla darts toward the last known location, Astro-Hero runs past the camera, having apparently circled the building in less than one second.) (The properly vexed boy starts to double back after him, missing his sprint across the far end of the alley. As Vanilla tries to follow this move, Astro-Hero passes the camera again, using wings rather than feet this time. Vanilla's flight after him is interrupted by a sharp whistle from somewhere behind him, and Astro-Hero again gallops across the far end of the block.) * [Vanilla Cake] "What the heck?" (He flies back down the alley and finds himself facing a dead end formed by high stone walls. The camera tilts up from him to frame Astro-Hero standing atop these for a moment before he dives out of view. Vanilla screams with rage; cut to the purple-clad guy running down a flight of steps that lead down from street level and into a tunnel. As Vanilla hits the gas to keep after him, both emerge in a new alley; after he has ran o.s., another whistle diverts Vanilla's attention to the end behind him. Sure enough, here comes Astro-Hero from this area, having somehow gone around the entire block in a split second.) (When Vanilla looks ahead of himself, he sees another dead end; before he can figure out how Astro-Hero got away this time, the latter bails out to leave Vanilla screaming in frustration. A fresh burst of wing-power puts him back in the chase, but he skids to a stop and eyes a ladder on the side of a building he has just passed. An instant later he is up on the rooftop and eyeing Astro-Hero, who proceeds cautiously along a street.) * [Vanilla Cake] "I got you now!" (He dives, plowing into Astro-Hero from behind, and both tumble o.s. A crash marks their final stop; cut to the dust cloud thrown up by the impact. Vanilla now has Astro-Hero pinned on his back.) * [Vanilla Cake] "All right, Mister Mysterious!" (Close-up.) "Mystery…" (His hand comes down and comes up with the mask, tossing it aside.) * [Vanilla Cake] "…solved!" (Gloating turns to slack-jawed shock in a tick, and Vanilla lets off an inarticulate cry of surprise before the camera cuts to a close-up of the unmasked hero, who smiles sheepishly and has lost his hat. The sight of this particular face throws Vanilla into a stuttering fit.) * [Vanilla Cake] (from o.s.) "Cotton?!?" (Back to him.) "Huh?!?" (Cut to a long shot of the pair, seen from the far end of the alley. A second set of purple-clad legs stands near the camera, which shifts to just behind Vanilla. They belong to a second Astro-Hero, who pushes his own mask up to expose himself as...) * [Vanilla Cake] "Snicker?!?" (Soft steps are heard behind him; he turns to find a third Astro-Hero emerging from a side path. Zoom in to put Vanilla out of view as this one unmasks.) * [Vanilla Cake] (from o.s.) "Blueberry?!?" (Overhead view of the quartet; the other extras approach slowly.) * [Vanilla Cake] "There were three of you?" (Street level.) * [Snicker Doodle] "Yep. We all played Astro-Hero at different times." * [Blueberry Jam] "I stopped the carriage bus with my amazing strength." * [Cotton Puffy] "I saved the construction workers with my Cotton Sense." (He has barely finished the sentence before his right hand begins to twitch uncontrollably, and he quickly pushes Vanilla aside just in time to avoid a flowerpot that crashes to the ground where they were standing. Both look up; cut to a contrite Sweetheart at an upper-story window.) * [Sweetheart] "Sorry!" * [Cotton Puffy] "It’s all right." * [Snicker Doodle] (to Vanilla, levitating his hat off) "And I used my magic to fix the dam." (Lemon skids in.) * [Lemon Drop] "Ooh, ooh! And I did the fly-by afterwards." (Gelatin arrives.) * [Gelatin Soft] "I made the costumes. Fabulous, if I do say so myself." (The rest are not dressed in Astro-Hero costumes. The string of revelations prompts Vanilla to pace the alley uncertainly.) * [Vanilla Cake] "I don’t understand." (Cut to him.) "Why?" (Zoom out to frame the others.) "Don’t you want me to be a hero?" (Cut to Lollipop and Sugar.) * [Lollipop Pops] "Of course we want you to be a hero." (Pan to Caramel.) * [Caramel Cider] (winking) "But a real hero doesn’t brag." (Cut to Vanilla.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Uh…I guess I did start to brag a little." (Zoom out to frame all twelve.) * [Other eleven] "A LITTLE?!?" (The combined force of their retort throws him so that he ends up sitting on his bottom.) * [Vanilla Cake] (as Lollipop walks to him) "Okay, a lot." * [Lollipop Pops] "Celebrating your accomplishments is natural, but…" (Blueberry zips up.) * [Blueberry Jam] "…rubbing them in everybody's face is not." * [Cotton Puffy] "Yeah. The only thing that should be rubbed in anyone's face is chocolate cake." (He proceeds to lick one hand and his face with great enthusiasm, as if they were smeared with this very dessert, and pays no heed to the eleven bewildered humanoids looking on. Vanilla stands up.) * [Blueberry Jam] "I think we’re getting off topic here." * [Lollipop Pops] "What we’re trying to say is, it’s great to be really good at something, but it’s important to act with grace and humility." (The message does not seem to sink in until Caramel lays a foreleg warmly across Vanilla's shoulders.) * [Vanilla Cake] "Ohhhh! That makes loads more sense!" (He flies up and hovers at roof level.) "Yeah. You’re right. And I guess I should also act with grace and humility when others outshine me…" (Overhead view of the others; he continues o.s.) "...like Astro-Hero." (The others agreed. Vanilla tips a wink to the camera before the view “irises out” to black, staying focused on her face.) End of episode.